The Daily Gamecock

USC student volunteers find connections, inspiration on alternative break

Thirty undergraduate students from the University of South Carolina spent their fall break in south Louisiana volunteering with the St. Bernard Project in efforts to rebuild homes in areas that were devastated by August flooding.

In the largest Alternative Break trip ever organized by the Leadership and Service Center, student volunteers spent all day Friday and Saturday either restoring one of two houses in a Louisiana neighborhood or helping set up the St. Bernard Project's new local warehouse.

"It's like they are refugees in their own front yard," trip leader Savannah Fisher said. 

One of the families the volunteers helped has been living in a trailer in its driveway since the flooding. 

The students met and spent time with the family, which allowed them to connect on a personal level and, according to fourth-year public heath student and trip leader Hayley Ulmer, "put a face to whose home you're working on." 

Fisher, a third-year English and history student, recognized the family's positive attitude toward the situation. She recalled one of the homeowners, Cory, telling her: "We are young, we can start over." 

Second-year political science student Taylor Bradley spoke fondly of the family.

"They took Southern hospitality to a new level," she said. "The kids were heartwarming." 

"Seeing just how warming and how welcoming they were and how humble they were, was an eye-opener for everyone," Bradley added.

"When you see the way that some of these people are living and how they don't even have a house, it's just humbling and it reminds you what you really have and are just thankful," Ulmer said. 

Despite the living conditions and lack of access to a real kitchen, the father of the family cooked "pastalaya," which is a variation of jambalaya made with pasta, for all of the volunteers on their last day.

"I was shocked, they had lost so much and here they were giving things to us," Fisher said. 

"The fact that they were willing to make all that for us, that showed me that they were appreciative,"  Bradley said. "Seeing how appreciative the entire family was was just the best feeling in the whole world."

Luis Sierra, a leadership coach at USC's Leadership and Service Center and a service ally on the trip, said, "many of our students wished that we had been able to do more in the two days." 

Bradley said it was unfortunate they could not help out with more houses, recalling that they passed many devastated homes on the way. As many as 90 percent of the houses in the 70818 zip code endured flooding.

Beyond the two houses USC students worked on, the St. Bernard Project is involved in projects across Louisiana. It also operated in Columbia, South Carolina, after the 2015 floods.

Although the volunteer time on a USC Alternative Break trip is limited, Fisher said, "every set of hands can do something to help."

"In the end you feel like you've gained rather than given," Fisher said. 

Sierra expressed his pride and gratefulness for the student volunteers who went on the trip, stating that "they just went into it, just, heart first, and just dove right in and they got to know the families." 

The Leadership and Service Center is looking to areas affected by Hurricane Matthew in planning for upcoming winter and spring break trips. 


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